“What are you getting at?” Rex asked, his voice tight.
Ogden leaned forward and lowered his voice. “We know Wells and his people are funding some chimera groups, to infiltrate and undermine the fight. We think E4E and Chimerica are among them.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Rex shot back, losing the fight to keep his voice under control.
“Is it?” Ogden asked. “What are they doing then?” He shot me a look. “Other than having lunch with the enemy?”
Before either of us could say anything, he continued. “Look, Nonk, you’ve seen some pretty bad stuff that Wells’s friends have done to chimeras. That Jasper guy at Pitman you all took down, and the doctor at Omnicare, the one who killed all those people—”
“Charlesford,” I whispered.
“Exactly. But that’s not all of it. There’s more stuff like that going on. And this time Wells’s involvement isn’t indirect or tangential. It’s not just people Wells is connected to. This time it’s Wells himself who’s responsible.”
“What are you talking about?” Rex replied.
“I’m talking about Wells Life Sciences. One of their facilities in Delaware. People are saying chimeras are being imprisoned there, held against their will. Maybe getting hurt and killed.”
“How do you know about it?” I asked.
“People talk,” he said. “Friends of friends have gone in there and never come out. I told my connections at Chimerica about it earlier this year, and they told me not to do anything. They said they would take care of it. And then they did nothing. So I left.” He laughed bitterly. “Sometimes I wonder if maybe Chimerica is make-believe after all.”
What he was describing sounded chillingly similar to both Pitman and Omnicare. Deep down, I felt scared. People had died in both those places, and in both places, I had almost been one of them. I cleared my throat, making sure my voice was steady. “You said people might be hurt and killed. How?”
Ogden took a deep breath, staring at me, then at Rex. “To be honest, I don’t know. But I’m going to find out. And CLAD is going to help. They took my information seriously, and said they’d help me find out more. And if it’s as bad as it seems, if it’s like Pitman or Omnicare, they’ll do what it takes to stop it. That’s what CLAD is about.” He looked at each of us, then said, “We’re going to take a look at the place soon, see what we can see, do a little LIDAR mapping. You know what that is?”
We both nodded. LIDAR was a laser-based radar system that could take quick, superaccurate measurements.
“Why don’t you come with us?” he said. “You can see for yourself what’s going on, what Chimerica and E4E are allowing to go on, and if you still think they’re doing everything they need to be doing, then that’s fine. And even if you decide we’re wrong, I’ll still see if I can find out why CLAD’s head honchos are so concerned with Jimi Corcoran. But you might decide you want to help us as we try to put these bastards out of action permanently.”
Rex stayed quiet. I knew he probably had a clear idea of what he thought we should or shouldn’t do next, but he was leaving it up to me. Probably because I was the one getting visits from the FBI, the one who’d been abducted off the street and almost blown up. I snuck a glance in his direction, but his face was blank. He didn’t want to lead me one way or another. I loved how he respected that this was my decision, but frankly, I wouldn’t have minded his input on this, even if I ended up disregarding it.
I was struck by what Ogden was saying about Chimerica and E4E. I couldn’t imagine they were in cahoots with Wells. Even though I barely remembered her and didn’t even know her anymore, I couldn’t imagine my aunt Dymphna being a part of that. But while both groups had been serious defenders of chimeras, Ogden wasn’t wrong; their refusal to act in the face of clear threats to chimeras had at times been exasperating. And I was curious about what he wanted to show us. If it was anything like Pitman or Omnicare, it needed to be stopped right away.
I was about to say as much, but then stopped. I’d been asked more than once why I needed to be the one to get in the middle of every fight. Those other fights had been unavoidable, in my mind. I hadn’t injected myself into them, I simply hadn’t run away. Maybe this one was someone else’s fight. Then I pictured Reverend Calkin falling down those steps and I knew I never wanted to be a part of CLAD. However right they might be about anything else, their methods were clearly wrong.
I shook my head. Rex and Ogden both sighed, one in relief, the other frustration.
“No,” I said. “The FBI is already breathing down my neck, thinking I’m somehow involved. Plus, I can’t condone the bombings, the killings. I can’t be a part of that.”
Ogden didn’t argue, he just silently nodded. When we left, he watched from the porch as we walked to the car. Rex and I didn’t speak. We waved as we got in and Ogden waved back.
He watched us drive away, and as the road curved and the house disappeared, I said, “Did I do the right thing?”
“I have no idea,” Rex said with a low, rumbling laugh. “For what it’s worth, you did what I would have done.”
The road sloped gently down in front of us. The puddles of standing water on either side of the road grew wider and deeper as we drove.
“I wonder what we would have found there, at the place in Delaware,” I said as we turned back onto the same causeway of gravel and shells that we had driven in on.
Rex didn’t reply, concentrating on keeping the truck on the road, which somehow seemed even more narrow and precarious than on the way in. When we reached relatively solid land, Rex let out a deep breath I didn’t realize he’d been holding. As we turned onto the road leading back toward the Smartway, I spotted a beat-up gray van partially blocking the road ahead of us.
“Uh-oh,” I said, putting my hand on Rex’s arm.
“Who is it?” he said, glancing at me then back at the van.
“I don’t know, but I think I saw them following us earlier, back in Philly.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“They disappeared. I thought I was just being paranoid. I thought a car was following us, as well, but it disappeared, too.”
Rex slowed and as we drew closer, the driver climbed out. Dark shades partially obscured his face, but I could make out the angle of his jaw, the pointy nose that seemed to separate the rust-colored fur above from the white of his throat and chin.
Rex’s foot slipped off the accelerator and we both leaned forward.
“No way,” I said, grinning. “Is that Sly?”
THIRTEEN
It was Sly. Rex laughed as he pulled over behind the van.
Rex and Sly had been friends for a long time. They’d shared a squat together in the zurbs with some other chimeras for a few years before Pitman happened, and after that, they’d gotten involved in Chimerica together. Sly was a little more hardcore about it and had worked his way up in the hierarchy. I’d only seen him a handful of times since we met in the fall, but those times had been intense. I considered him a close friend.
As soon as the truck stopped, I jumped out.